Modern Masters Reading Series

In the most basic sense, a reading series allows us to hear the work of writers who are currently writing. It gives voice to modern texts, allows writers to provide anecdotal context and for us to enjoy hearing poetry, fiction, nonfiction in the voice of the writer who wrote it. It is an entirely different enterprise than reading a story, poem or essay silently to one’s self. A reading series elevates the text heard to a group “experience.”

The taproot of any reading series is the fact that the origin of literature is oral. Last but not least, a reading series is a reminder to all of the value of what it means to actually listen, it is an opportunity to practice the art of listening.

2016-2017 Schedule

All readings are free and open to the public. Persons with disabilities who may require special services should contact Disability Support Services at 410.617.2062 at least 48 hours prior to the event.

Fall 2016

Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Friday, October 28th, 5 p.m., McGuire Hall

Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Walter and Leonore Annenberg Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Jamieson's research areas include political communication, rhetorical theory and criticism, studies of various forms of campaign communication, and the discourse of the presidency. She is the author or co-author of 15 books including: Presidents Creating the Presidency (University of Chicago Press, 2008), Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment (Oxford, 2008) and unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation (Random House, 2007). Jamieson has won university-wide teaching awards at each of the three universities at which she has taught, and political science or communication awards for four of her books. Her book, co-authored with Kate Kenski and Bruce Hardy, The Obama Victory: How Media, Money, and Messages Shaped the 2008 Election, received the 2010 American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE Award) in the area of government and politics. This event is sponsored by a grant from the Center for Humanities with additional support from Messina.